Snyk Alternatives 2026: 6 Free Options
Snyk alternatives: Semgrep, SonarQube, GitHub CodeQL code scanning, Trivy and 2 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•3 min read•Security Software & Testing
Verdict:Snyk Free is limited to 100 Snyk Code tests a month, and the Team plan costs $25 a month for up to 10 developers with 1,000 tests. For many small teams the real question is which of Snyk's four jobs they actually use: dependency scanning, static code analysis, container scanning or infrastructure as code. Each has a free open-source replacement. OSV-Scanner or Trivy covers dependencies, Trivy also handles containers and Kubernetes manifests, and Semgrep or SonarQube Community Build covers static analysis. All of these run in CI, and none needs an account. What you give up is the dashboard that ties findings together, the fix pull requests, license policy and the support contract. If you want that single pane without Snyk's price, Codacy has a free Developer plan and Semgrep's platform is free up to 10 contributors. GitHub CodeQL is the obvious pick for public repositories already on GitHub, but private use needs a paid GitHub product. The trade-off to watch is noise. Dependency scanners report every known advisory, and Snyk's reachability and prioritization tries to cut that list down, so budget time for triage with the free tools. Start with Trivy or OSV-Scanner in one pipeline and see whether the results are good enough before you cancel.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Semgrep | Free (up to 10 contributors); paid from $30 per contributor/month (Teams, Code or Supply Chain; Secrets $15) | CLI, CI, Semgrep Cloud | Custom static analysis rules in CI | Docs only |
| SonarQube | Free (Community Build is free; SonarQube Cloud free up to 50k lines of code on private projects) | Self-hosted (Java), SonarQube Cloud | Code quality plus static analysis you can host | Docs only |
| GitHub CodeQL code scanning | Free (listed for public repositories on the Free plan) | GitHub | Public repositories already on GitHub | Docs only |
| Trivy | Free (Free open-source scanner for containers, Kubernetes, code repositories, secrets and SBOMs) | macOS, Windows, Linux | Container and infrastructure scanning in CI | Docs only |
| OSV-Scanner | Free (Free open-source CLI and Go library backed by the open OSV.dev database) | macOS, Windows, Linux | Free dependency vulnerability checks | Docs only |
| Codacy | Free (Developer plan, free forever, includes IDE plugin and SAST, SCA and secrets scans); paid from $18 per dev/month, billed yearly (Team; $21 monthly) | Web, IDE plugins | A hosted all-in-one with a free plan | Docs only |
| Checkmarx | See pricing page | Web browser | Application Security | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You mainly need dependency vulnerability checks in CI (OSV-Scanner is the pick)
- You scan Docker images and Kubernetes manifests (Trivy is the pick)
- You want to write custom static analysis rules (Semgrep is the pick)
- You want a hosted dashboard with a free plan (Codacy is the pick)
- You want a self-hosted code quality server (SonarQube is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Snyk features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Snyk today: Free (100 Snyk Code tests per month); paid from $25 per month, Team plan for up to 10 developers (1,000 Snyk Code tests) (Snyk pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Snyk alternatives
Snyk's free plan caps usage at 100 Snyk Code tests a month (the FAQ lists 200 open source, 100 container and 300 IaC tests) and 5 projects. Team starts at $25 a month, is limited to teams of up to 10 developers and raises Snyk Code to 1,000 tests. Beyond that you move to Enterprise, which is custom-priced and credit-based. A developer counts once they commit to a monitored private repository within 90 days.
Semgrep
Compared with Snyk: Semgrep's engine is LGPL-2.1 and its managed platform is free for up to 10 contributors; Teams is $30 per contributor a month. Snyk Free caps Snyk Code at 100 tests a month, and Semgrep has stronger custom rules, with weaker dependency and container coverage.
Price: Free (up to 10 contributors); paid from $30 per contributor/month (Teams, Code or Supply Chain; Secrets $15) (Semgrep pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: CLI, CI, Semgrep Cloud. LGPL-2.1 (Semgrep CE engine) (open source).
Project activity: 17.3k GitHub stars · latest release v1.182.0 (Oct 20, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Best for: Custom static analysis rules in CI.
Worth knowing: The open-source engine is free; the managed platform has the contributor limits.
SonarQube
Compared with Snyk: SonarQube Community Build is LGPL-3.0 and free to self-host, and SonarQube Cloud is free up to 50k lines on private projects. It focuses on code quality and static analysis rather than Snyk's dependency and container scanning.
Price: Free (Community Build is free; SonarQube Cloud free up to 50k lines of code on private projects) (SonarQube pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted (Java), SonarQube Cloud. LGPL-3.0 (Community Build) (open source).
Project activity: 11.1k GitHub stars · latest release 26.10.0.133078 (Oct 12, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Code quality plus static analysis you can host.
GitHub CodeQL code scanning
Compared with Snyk: CodeQL is free for public repositories on GitHub; private repos need GitHub Code Security, whose price was not shown. It is deep static analysis for code you write, and does not replace Snyk's open-source dependency and container checks.
Price: Free (listed for public repositories on the Free plan) (GitHub CodeQL code scanning pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: GitHub. Proprietary engine; CodeQL queries MIT.
Best for: Public repositories already on GitHub.
Trivy
Compared with Snyk: Trivy is Apache-2.0 and scans containers, Kubernetes, repositories, secrets and SBOMs. Snyk adds a hosted dashboard, fix pull requests and support; Trivy is a free command-line scanner that you wire into CI yourself.
Price: Free (Free open-source scanner for containers, Kubernetes, code repositories, secrets and SBOMs) (Trivy pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Windows, Linux. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 38.8k GitHub stars · latest release v0.76.1 (Oct 21, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Container and infrastructure scanning in CI.
OSV-Scanner
Compared with Snyk: OSV-Scanner is an Apache-2.0 CLI from Google that matches your dependencies against the open OSV.dev database. It covers Snyk Open Source's core job for free, but has no static analysis, no dashboard and no automated fix pull requests.
Price: Free (Free open-source CLI and Go library backed by the open OSV.dev database) (OSV-Scanner pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Windows, Linux. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 11.3k GitHub stars · latest release v2.7.0 (Oct 12, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Free dependency vulnerability checks.
Worth knowing: Dependencies only; no SAST or dashboard.
Codacy
Compared with Snyk: Codacy's Developer plan is free and includes static analysis, dependency and secret scans with an IDE plugin; Team is $18 per developer a month billed yearly. It is a hosted all-in-one like Snyk, with a code-quality angle.
Price: Free (Developer plan, free forever, includes IDE plugin and SAST, SCA and secrets scans); paid from $18 per dev/month, billed yearly (Team; $21 monthly) (Codacy pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, IDE plugins. Proprietary SaaS.
Best for: A hosted all-in-one with a free plan.
Worth knowing: Prices are 'starting at'.
Other popular options (paid)
Checkmarx
Compared with Snyk: Checkmarx One has no list prices: quotes depend on modules, SaaS or self-hosted deployment and developer count. There is no self-serve trial, only a demo. Suits larger security teams more than Snyk's free and $25 Team tiers.
Price: See pricing page (Checkmarx pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Which one to pick
- You mainly need dependency vulnerability checks in CI: OSV-Scanner
- You scan Docker images and Kubernetes manifests: Trivy
- You want to write custom static analysis rules: Semgrep
- You want a hosted dashboard with a free plan: Codacy
- You want a self-hosted code quality server: SonarQube
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Semgrep, SonarQube, GitHub CodeQL code scanning, Trivy, OSV-Scanner, Codacy: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Snyk. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Snyk, Semgrep, SonarQube, GitHub CodeQL code scanning, Trivy, OSV-Scanner, Codacy, Checkmarx. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.